[Infographic] Happy 20th Birthday, eBay

Founded by Pierre Omidyar, online auction and shopping site eBay first burst unto the Internet in 1995 just before the dotcom bubble and managed to survive through that collapse unlike many of its online counterparts. Today the company is a multi-billion dollar business with operations in over thirty countries, but most of us have probably forgotten its humble beginnings – originally known as Auction Web, the first ever item sold on the site was a broken laser pointer sold for a princely price of $14

Twenty years down the road eBay is now a thriving e-commerce site with over 157 million active users, trading pretty much anything across borders. Here’s an insightful infographic from the folks at SnapParcel.com that charts its evolution over the years.

Daniel Goh is the founder and chief editor of Young | Upstarts, as well as an F&B entrepreneur. Daniel has a background in public relations, and is interested in issues in entrepreneurship, small business, marketing, public relations and the online space. He can be reached at daniel [at] youngupstarts [dot] com.